Zanpaku-Tou: Ideas
by Herr Doktor
Summary: A quick side project of mine. Basically, something I type when I've nothing else to do and I'm stumped with my main fiction. In general, they are simply short stories demonstrating ideas for zanpaku-to, the shinigami's blade in Bleach. Simply suggest something in a review or message, and I'll gladly try and incorporate it into a brief chapter. Rating may vary.
1. Chapter 1: Mayonaka (Midnight)

AN: One series is rounding off, and another is slowed while I study. SO! I decided to do another whimsical work, but on the all-too-familiar manga "Bleach". Updates will not follow a schedule, and will be irregular. Each one displays in either first or third person an idea for a Zanpaku-to. They generally use OCs, since I don't want to delve into the actual storyline. Lengths will vary too, ranging from a few hundred to a couple thousand, depending.

Another hollow. How boring. I was assigned here to the world of living in this small town, and I've encountered a bunch of small-time hollows, not even worth looking at. Of course, be resembling a young human didn't help much.

Bored, I drifted around in the sky, using my spirit energy to propel myself about. I tapped my zanpaku-to, Mayonaka, impatiently. I was relatively skilled with my spirit energy, but I didn't even have a seat in my company! You don't need to know what that is. None of your business.

I had sensed the hollow this morning, but all it had done was hang around a small park. I left it alone for a while, and then decided to go after it. Something to take my anger out on.

That was a mistake.

The moment I arrived at the park, the spiritual energy began crushing me. The sheer force of it pressed in on me, and I knew that this hollow was a different class. I studied it briefly.

The hollow was rather humanoid, except for the huge claws and mask. It even wore human clothes, but there was no doubt it was a hollow. It screeched at me, and I guessed that when it was a human, it had a pretty decent spiritual pressure. Now though, it was an enraged monster that would eat any human that crossed it. It's mask was rather blank, with only circles and swirls around the eyes. The mask had a split with teeth, where no doubt the hollow could speak from.

"Hey ugly!" I shouted, waving my sword. "Over here!"

The hollow looked up, and then spat something at me. Too late, I realized it had launched a large needle-like projectile, which pierced my arm and stayed there. "Argh!"

I nearly dropped, my sword, but managed to switch to my left hand. The hollow screamed, and clawed at the air. Not that it would do much good. I was about to strike it and end its poor existence when I felt two more spiritual pressures behind me. Oh dear.

I spun around, in time to see two more lizard-like hollows charging at me, screaming. They appeared to be moving through the air. One of them, gifted with the ability to speak even in death, roared, "GIVE…ME…YOUR…!"

I drew my sword and shouted, "Blacken, Mayonaka!" My zanpaku-to's shikai blinded the target and launched a sphere of raw spirit energy whenever I swung, a useful ability, in my opinion. I hoped to learn bankai within a century. I swung my blade, which had become curved at the end. It bit deep into the first hollow's mask, and the hollow exploded into particles of reishi.

I turned and slashed at the two behind me, cutting on in its scaly chest. It screamed, and clawed at its eyes. No matter where my blade cut, the cut target went blind. Usually, it lasted around a minute, but lately I had been training and it now lasted two or three minutes. A blind hollow isn't too difficult, so I chopped up the two and sat down in the park.

I wish I could get reassigned.


	2. Chapter 2: Living Dead

AN: For the record, I've been slowly vanishing from the net. I'll probably disappear altogether soon, reason being a few minor head injuries. I bid you adieu, until next I am able to think straight. Wouldn't want to write fics with a damaged brain, ja? (Sports: 5 Head: 0)

Night skies are oddly invigorating. A cold wind swirled around my face, icy cold fingers probing at me face, my ears, my eyes. Chilly fingers that creep into my robes ands wrap around my legs.

Night truly is an enjoyable time, full of wonder as it is. I've been assigned to the human world, in an average neighborhood, average town. I spend most of the day drifting around and killing hollows. The true pleasure of the human world is the night, though. Nightfall is the best time of day, in my opinion.

The full moon shines its bright face on mine. I stare upwards, and a strand of my black hair whips around in front of my face as the wind picks up. A shiver runs down my spine. It is par on a guilty pleasure for me, as the cold night is as good as any infusion of drug. Well, sweet wine isn't bad either. But if anyone asks, I never said that.

The peaceful night scene was shattered by a horrible, screeching cry. I was annoyed as I sensed the foul energy of a hollow. Not so much because it was a hollow, but rather, it had interrupted my nighttime reverie.

I leapt towards the energy's source, feet a blur. I'm not bad at running, if I do say so myself. I don't use shun-po much. I'm usually fast enough with my feet. I'm not bragging, I really am. Now, though, back to the deadly hollow at hand.

I touched down in front of a small house, and shook my head with a sigh. Hollows oft went for family members. This was likely another case. I hadn't heard any screaming yet. I looked around, and felt the energy's strength suddenly double. What's going on?

I heard a hissing noise, and instinctively ducked. That probably saved me, as a large, acid-covered needle shot past where my head had been moments before. "Wha-?!" I spun on the spot, coming face to face with a huge, reptilian hollow. Its body was humanoid, but covered in scales. Humanoid was also relative, as it had a tale and four arms. Its mask was lizard-like, completing the reptile appearance with an ugly flourish.

_"I…smell the blood of my...own…kin…You…though, smell…better!"_ With a horrible wail, the monster launched itself at me, four arms extended.

I staggered back, bringing my sword up to bear. I hacked at the creature's arms, trying to cut some off, but when my sword struck the scales it stopped dead. "No!"

_"YOU CAN'T CUT ME!"_ The hollow slashed at my chest, and I felt skin tear. Spirit body or know, this was a bad injury. Agony tore through my chest as blood spurted out from around the slash. I may not have been able to cut him, but he most certainly could cut me.

"Survive, Kyonshi!(Living Dead)" My sword shortened slightly, and the blade grew wider. A skull appear on the handle. With my sword in shikai, the sword itself would receive the brunt of my wounds. Basically, if you clawed me, I'd receive a small scratch and the blade would be injured in my stead. A bad thing, maybe, but zanpaku-to were extremely resilient. Also, my sword sharpened in shikai, meaning I could cut the scales more easily.

Battles were matters of spirit energy. In this case, my energy was considerably above that of a mere hollow's but this one had somehow been strengthened with virtually indestructible scales.

Also, the sudden increase in energy upon my arrival was unexplained.

No time to wonder, though. The hollow opened its mouth and spat some more needles at me. They were raw spirit energy, so did no actual harm to the environment, but the acid was some odd spiritual substance.

The hollow screamed at me, and slashed at my shoulder. The claws were huge, but they made a tiny nick. My sword shuddered as it took the blow, but there was no visible damage. Kyonshi is a resilient blade indeed.

Stepping forward, I gripped my sword with both hands and brought it crashing down on the creature's skull, or so I though. It raised a hand and I ended up simply slicing off one of its forearms. Not that it mattered. The thing had three more to spare.

I was suddenly struck by a minor detail. The two lower arms were thinner, darker. They weren't covered in scales, but looked slimy and weak. Strange.

I leapt forward, and dodging to one side I intoned, "Hado 4! Byakurai!" Energy swirled around my hands, and leapt forward to slam into the hollow's head. It exploded, and reishi flew everywhere. "About time you died, poor creature," I murmured.

I turned, about to leave.

"Dead, am I?" a rasping voice grumbled from behind me. No way. I saw it die.

I turned, filled with dread, and found myself face to face with a tall, spindly hollow. Its skin was slimy, and mask amorphous. The thing laughed. "There were two of us, dear shinigami. I was the poison. He was the strength." With that short proclamation he spat a series of needles at me. I avoided all but one, which slashed open my shoulder. Luckily, Kyonshi was still active, and the wound was reduced to a tiny red slit. However, Kyonshi's blade bubbled and turned greenish. The blade had taken the needle's acid.

The hollow jumped, and in seconds it was above me. Needles spat down at me, and I brought up my sword. The attacks slammed into the blade, causing more green bubbles to appear on its length. I was getting worried. Kyonshi was reaching his limit, it seemed. The sword couldn't take infinite attacks.

Questions wandered in my mind as I parried blows. How on earth did a hollow merge? There were gilligans, but those were large masses of hollows. What on earth had merged these two?

The hollow landed a few feet in front of me and launched himself at me, slimy hands solidifying into clawed appendages. "Bakudo 4! Hainawa!" I shouted frantically. Lights swirled around the hollow's hands, tangling them together. What kind of hollow was this?!

Quite suddenly, as the creature was about to cover me in deadly acid, a white light smashed into its head. The hollow exploded, blowing reishi all over.

A cheerful female voice spoke. "Alright there?" I looked up to see a rather pretty soul reaper. I was angry, though. I had to be saved by a _girl?!_

She appeared in front of me and grinned. "You need more practice with your zanpaku-to."

With that, she vanished, leaving me staring incredulously at where she'd been a moment before.


	3. Chapter 3: Hueco Mundo (Part 1)

AN: Set after Ichigo's defeating Aizen and encountering the ones with Fullbring abilities. If unaware, please have a look at the more recent manga. It's length is due to demonstration of multiple zanpaku-to.

Akira was used to being tossed around. Most other soul reapers didn't pay him much attention because despite his average build and appearance, he never showed much spiritual pressure. There were a few who said he shouldn't be a soul reaper at all, and had tried to beat him up for it. Those people are in various infirmaries in various states of health now.

Various states meaning they were on the verge of death. And it is pretty damn difficult to kill a shinigami.

These tussles went unnoticed by the captain-class. Not that they weren't aware of it. They knew what Akira's status was, and were content to take the backseat, and clean up the mess from Aizen's insurgence. And indeed, there was quite a mess.

Akira wasn't weak by any means. He specialized in Hado, and had received top marks in the academy. His sword was famous amongst those who knew him well. Akira deliberately kept his spiritual energy to a minimum, but in truth he bordered assistant captain. That was something few could boast.

His sword isn't much when you simply chat about it. Seeing it in action was the true amusement for his friends. If you could call bone-chilling respect amusement.

Akira had just been assigned to explore a small section of hueco mundo. Although Aizen had left there, the soul society had ideas to secure small sections of the cursed land, which was still covered in hollows of humans and animals alike.

Akira was assigned to be head of a five man crew, coincidentally *coughcough* friends. Two of them female soul reapers who specialized in kido, the other two guys he'd known from the academy. Delving into their details is of little importance now; there are hollows to be slain.

The soul society had left Hueco Mundo virtually untouched, as though afraid it'd curse any who went there. Now, though, Akira was to scout out the region.

It was a ghastly sight.

Upon arrival (The portal sealed immediately. Several of his teammates did a double take.) they found a barren wasteland before them, with bones and greyish 'rocks' strewn about. Quite honestly, it was beyond bleak. This was somewhere that obviously had been Aizen's domain.

"Well," one of the female soul reapers said. "Shall we go?" She was Akane. She had garnered fame for being hot-tempered. She was also rather petite, which was deceptive as to her considerable strength.

Akira sighed as his eyes roamed the landscape. "This is one hell of a place. Let's go. We're to scout out the surrounding region." Akira had no doubt they'd find little. This was, after all, a place of death.

The other female soul reaper, a tall, quiet lady with a calm disposition laughed softly. "Hell of a place, Akira? I think not."

Akira glanced at her. "Is that so, Mayumi? What would you call it?"

Mayumi was an interesting person. Her zanpaku-to, which reflected her name, was an archery type weapon. "I would call it a death valley."

Akira glared at her, fingering his zanpaku-to's hilt. "How is that different from what I said?"

"Oh shut up, you two," one soul reaper said. He was thin and tall, much like Mayumi. He wore a visor over his eyes, used to limit his vision. He was extremely farsighted, which meant that he had eyes that could see long distances, but he went blind three feet in front of him. "They say people who argue a lot are destined to be together."

"Be quiet, Aio," the last member said. He was also rather thin. He wore a pair of glasses and had a studious, kind appearance. He had a soft voice and simple air, but his eyes were cold, infinitely dark blue.

Akira sighed. "We're getting nowhere." He looked at the soul reaper who'd just spoken. "Ken, do you sense anything?"

Ken was gifted in kido and sensing spiritual pressure. Physically, he may not have been the best choice. You may have noticed a relationship amongst these people. In general, they are all skilled in Kido, and good with swords, save for Ken. But Ken could probably kill you with his _mind_, so one tends not to bring up his physical weakness. Some say his glare can kill you.

Ken murmured some words under his breath, and the others felt the spiritual energy pulse out around him. "There are…some hollows within a mile…and beyond I can just barely feel some spiritual pressures. There might be a Gilligan or two underground, maybe even behind some natural structure."

Akira nodded. "Thanks. Let's get going."

Leaping into the air, spiritual energy condensing around their legs, the group dashed through Hueco Mundo, a few meters above the ground. Twice, Mayumi was surprised by some hollow insect and had released a huge blast of spiritual energy that carved a hole in the ground. "What a good way to announce our presence," Ken said flatly. "Even though secrecy was stressed so much."

"Sorry," Mayumi said sheepishly. Ken sometimes got into arguments with others, but to date he'd never had a lasting one with Mayumi. Some said there was something between the two, likely since Mayumi was considerably pretty, but you'd best not say that to Ken's face. That could be fatal.

Akane pulled ahead of the group, brows knitting with worry. Akira noticed this. "Something wrong, Akane?"

Mayumi looked disturbed too. Ken as well. Akira and Aio were rather…left in the dark. Akane looked about. "I sense a nasty spiritual pressure."

Akira and Aio were good at sensing spiritual pressures, as good as the others. It was odd they felt nothing. "Are…are you sure?"

Ken adjusted his glasses. "Quite." He drew his zanpaku-to, and the others flinched. "Tell no lies, Shinjitsu. (Truth)" Shinjitsu's ability was two-fold. One dispelled most spiritual spells. That was the first part of his release. The second was an attack of some kind, which not even the others knew about. Rumor has it Ken has mastered Bankai, but there is nothing to prove that.

Shinjitsu's blade lengthened, and turned pitched black. Pure, shining black. Then, starting from the tip, a thin sheet of frost began to cover it. As soon as the blade was completely frozen over, spiritual energy began pulsing out from around Ken in massive amounts.

Akira saw most of the lights concentrate around himself and Aio. Moments later, he felt a powerful force sweep around him. Based on how Aio suddenly stiffened, he'd say Aio felt it too. "Thanks, Ken."

Ken nodded silently and sheathed his swords. Faint looks of disappointment were noticeable. There was much speculation on what the other half of Ken's shikai did.

Mayumi drew her sword, and said quietly, "Are there Gilligans here?"

Aio sighed. "There may be normal hollows, or even adjuchas. However, most of the gilligan's vanished when they capture Aizen." He hestitated. "There might be the stray low ranking arrancar, of course."

At this, several of the soul reapers grew tense. A Gilligan alone had to be taken on by an assistant captain. Ken looked about, and with his icy, analytical eyes glowing, he said, "Relax, Akira is pretty strong, and so are the lot of you." Ken was a rather unofficial part of Akira's circle. He sort of did as he pleased.

Akira nodded appreciatively and looked outwards. A small group of normal hollows were gathered around a sand dune. "Well, that's not where the monstrous energy is coming from, but what say we clear them out of our land?"

Mayumi tapped a finger to her lips. "I heard a human say 'Get off my lawn' once. He said it in a weird accent."

"What does that have to do with this?" Aio asked flatly.

"Get off my laaawwwwwwn!" Akane chirped.

Ken almost laughed. The others turned to him as he made a choking, strangled effort to suppress a chuckle. He succeeded, red-faced and annoyed.

Ken was a self-declared stoic.

Why does so much attention get drawn to Ken? Well, he's not particularly important. He's just someone the others bully in vague ways for fun. Back to the point.

Hopping out of the air to land behind the hollows, Akira glanced at his teammates. "Let me deal with these guys."

The others nodded, while Ken simply took a step back and vanished in a blur.

Akira drew his sword. "Get over here, you monsters! This won't hurt a bit if you die quickly!"


	4. Chapter 4: Hueco Mundo (Part 2)

AN: Kyou no teki was suggested by Royal9000 ;) Brilliant idea.

Akira drew his sword. These hollows would be little challenge, but there was quite a group. He wanted to settle this on his own, though. "Reflect, Kyou no teki (mirror of the enemy)!" His sword flash brilliant white as he released. Spiritual energy flowed around him in massive amounts. There are few blades in the soul society that are pure white. It's difficult to say if Akira's was one of them.

The blade acted much like a mirror, reflecting everything when you looked into its blade. Yet, when you looked carefully, you didn't just see yourself. You saw an odd color. Something strange, something mystical swirling around you like an aura. When someone that had annoyed Akira looked into the blade, they usually ran off screaming. Nobody knew what they saw. Akira never said anything. His blade is strange indeed, but it is also incredibly powerful. Then again, that does say something about Akira's strength. If you handed a toddler a gun, he could aim no better than a goldfish.

Akira charged at the first hollow. When one saw Akira fight, there rarely seemed to be a plan, other than charge and cut. Yet, his plan _was_ the charge and cut. His sword ensured it. He raised the blade, which flashed in the air, and plunged it into the first hollow's mask. The creature burst, vanishing into the air. Now, Akira turned to the other hollows while his teammates looked on in interest.

He waved his blade, and the other hollow's eyes suddenly flew to it. The blade was slightly wider than the normal zanpaku-to blade, and who knows what the hollows saw there? All that's known is that they froze, and stared at the blade. Even as the blade cut down their numbers, their eyes remained on it. When the last one remained, the mirror blade shined. None of Akira's teammates saw what happened next. All they knew was that when the light was gone, there was no more hollow and Akira had sheathed his sword. "How was that?"

Ken reappeared. He tilted his head and brought his hands together to clap. "An amazing demonstration, Akira. Yet, you deliberately used that flash of light to hide your shikai, didn't you? I've a feeling something went on in that flash, yes?"

Akira sighed. "You're too smart for your own good, Ken."

Akane laughed, and hopped down to stand by him. "That was cool! We only got to see you fight a few times before."

Akira shrugged. "What can I say? Remain mysterious."

Mayumi frowned. "Show-off."

"Come on, Mayumi!" Aio said. "He's strong, admit it. We can 'show off' on other hollows."

Ken rolled his eyes and looked out over the dust. "You know, I kind of like it here."

Just a comment someone like Ken would make.

"Psycho," Akane muttered.

Akira looked at her disapprovingly. "He is not a psycho. People have personalities, you know. _You_ like talking to plants."

Akane glared at him and turned away huffily.

Mayumi looked at a sheaf of paper she'd brought. "We've only scouted out about 8% of the terrain. Let's get moving. The captains don't like to be kept waiting."

"Everyone loses their patience and humor when they become captains," Akane said.

"How about Ukitake?" Aio put in.

Akira glanced at Aio. "He's more sickly then happy. I think he's too ill to be unhappy."

"I thought his illness was over and done?" Mayumi said inquisitively. She paused, and glanced around. "Hey! Where's Ken?"

Mayumi, with her archer's eyes, noticed a figure in the distance, drawing away even as they spoke. "I think he's gone ahead."

"Gee, you THINK?" Aio said, dashing to catch up. The others followed suit hurriedly.

"He _is_ a psycho, Akira. He is," Akane muttered.

They caught up with him a few minutes later. He had a disturbing expression. When one said disturbing, one meant a cold, icy gaze that stared straight ahead. His eyebrows were knitted, and there was a grimace on his face. He'd also stopped moving.

"What's wrong?" Mayumi asked, looking at him curiously.

Ken opened his mouth, but only blood came out. Still staring straight ahead, he toppled out of the air and landed on the sand, some several yards below. "What the bloody-!" Aio began.

Ken's sword was shining. As they dropped down beside him, Akane tried to grab Ken's sword, but it twirled out of her hands and landed a couple feet away. "Don't try to take his blade," Akira said. "I tried once. I can still feel my hands burning."

Mayumi looked at Ken's still form, and frowned. "We should get him help. He's still breathing anyhow."

"Look at his zanpaku-to!" Akane cried. All heads turned to look at the shining blade. "Truth".

The sword spun in place, and then suddenly pointed straight up. It hovered there for a few seconds, before falling back into the sand. Moments later, they heard a ghostly howl, and something appeared in the air. A vaguely humanoid figure with monstrous energy.

"Is that…an adjucha?" Akira said, wide-eyed.

The figure was wrapped in grey, with spines and spikes along its arm. Its face was mostly covered by a mask that resembled the ones worn by Japanese samurai, save for the face that the bottom was gone. It also had a tail, a lashing, whipping thing with spines on the end. It wasn't a hollow. It's spiritual pressure topped a Gillian's!

"Look out!" Aio tackled Akira, shoving him out of the way of a series of spiritual bombs that slammed into the ground.

The adjucha glared down at them. "_I need spiritual energy! You killed my food, so now I'll have you!_" Ah yes, an adjucha's greatest fear: relapse. Adjuchas existed because their conscious self took power over the others and formed a new body. If, though, it did not receive enough sustenance while it was in that form, it would relapse into a Gillian, never to return to adjucha form again.

A Gillian is usually dealth with by a captain-class.

An adjucha is usually avoided at all costs.

…

This situation _could_ be better.

Akira leapt aside as more spiritual bombs smashed into the ground. The adjucha seemed to be firing spiritual pressure from his palms. The projectiles moved quickly, but Akira was fair confident he could avoid them. He wasn't going to grow complacent, though. An adjucha had then strength of thousands of hollows. Even more than a Gillian.

"**CERO."**

Akira leapt backwards as a huge ray of white light struck the ground where he'd been. Sand flew everywhere, creating a cloud.

Akira had Aio swear, and then he drew his own sword.

He heard Akane intoning a hado.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, you who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Light swirled from Akane's hand and slammed dead-on to the adjucha. How she'd seen the hollow with all the sand was unknown.

The adjucha tumbled out of the sand cloud, smoldering. Scorch marks covered him. He looked up though, seemingly fine. Although its face was burned, it looked otherwise alright. Akane's eyes widened in shock when she saw how little damage her hado had done. Such destruction spells should have torn away some armor at least!

The adjucha vanished, and reappeared by Mayumi, who swore and twisted. She drew her sword. "Snipe, Ite (Archer)!" Her sword's blade changed shape to that of a bow, but there was no string. The handle sank into the blade and vanished, while a section of cloth appeared around the center of the bow's body. This zanpaku-to was something of a novelty in the soul society. It acted as a bow, and fought as a bow, save for the bow itself, which was still sharp as a blade. Some said Mayumi's blade was related to a quincy's power somehow.

She placed her hand in the area behind the bow, and spiritual energy crackled around it, forming a bow and string. She fired off a shot that struck the adjucha's shoulder, and then leapt back. The armor was barely cracked. "What does it take to kill this thing?!"

Akane drew her sword. "Strike with divinity, Inori!(Prayer)" Her sword flashed in release, and twisted to become hooked at the end. It became even more slender, and turned white. _This_ was one of the other white zanpaku-to's in the society. It's power was somewhat hypocritical, though, as the soul society soul reapers were virtually 'gods'. So what did it have to pray to?

"Bakudo 8, seki." The arrancar was tossed backwards as red light swirled in front of it. Ken was back up in the air, bleeding from an injury in the stomach but alive. "Bakudo 1, sai." The adjucha's hands were swung behind it. "Bakudo 61, Rikujokoro." Six beams restrained the adjucha. A bead of sweat appeared on Ken's brow. "Bakudo 63, Sajo Sabaku." Glowing yellow and white chains wrapped around the adjucha, binding it even tighter. Blood was literally pouring out of Ken's mouth in a fountain now. He gagged, and stumbled backwards in the air.

Mayumi went to support him (mindful of her deadly bow.) while Akane swung her sword. For a moment, nothing happened, and the adjucha laughed. "Why were you swinging from so far away? Hallucinating, maybe?"

Then, the others noticed a yellow dot trained on the restrained adjucha's head. The adjucha noticed it too, and he looked up. His eyes widened, and he fought the restraints. The seki shattered. The Sajo Sabaku exploded into shards of spirit power. The Rikujokoro remained, and he was completely paralyzed, save for his head, which twisted in panic. A yellow beam of light was descending slowly onto him. When it finally made contact with his head, it began to burn.

The adjucha screamed, a horrible, agonized noise as the beam burned into the adjucha. Screaming, and ranting, and suddenly pleading, and then, the Rikujokoro broke. He leapt out of the way, his head burned and smoking. The yellow light vanished.

Mayumi was struck from behind by multiple spiritual spheres. She toppled out of the air, slamming into the ground beside Ken.

The adjucha bellowed a cry of triumph and hurled more spheres. Akira, Aio, and Akane charged the adjucha, dodging to the sides and hacking at the hollow. Several times their blades made contact, several times their blades glanced off his armor or left a mere scratch.

Akane's blade was glowing in release, as was Akira's. Aio had not yet used his shikai, and that was going to be against him soon if he didn't.

The hollow bashed Akira aside, and lunged at Aio. Aio drew his sword and yelled, "Bring justice, Kurayami no tenshi (Dark angel)" The adjucha was knocked back as Aio's sword blazed black and red. The blade turned onyx black, widened, becoming more heavyset. It also split, becoming a sort of two pronged weapon. A black aura danced about Ken's back.

Akira swung his sword. "Kyou no teki, reflect!" A white light swirled around the adjucha, and the adjucha saw mirror images of himself. The reflections were warped, twisted, and surrounded by black. The adjucha reeled, and Aio stabbed the adjucha in the chest.

"Ah, gotcha," Aio murmured. "Want to know what my shikai does? It's really quite pleasant. Corrupt, Kurayami no tenshi!" From the point the adjucha was stabbed, its skin began to wither. Within seconds the adjucha was slumped over, withered and rotted. A minute later it burst open, spilling spirit particles everywhere.

"Is he…dead?" Akane asked in wonder.

Akira closed his eyes, focusing on the spiritual pressures around him. "He's dead."

"YYYUUUUSH!" Aio grinned. "Though the bastard would never die!"

Victory, but if they had to deal with another adjucha, they were a goner. Then, Akira's attention snapped to his injured teammates. "Akane! Get contact with fourth company! Get back to the portal!"

The bustling of action stirred his teammates. Akira stared off into the distance, mind as far away as his eyes.

AN: I doubt I'll end up doing another multi-chapter one, but who knows? I'll try and demonstrate them individually. This is the last part, by the way. It never gave much information on Ken's blade, but ah well.


	5. Chapter 5: Hanketsu (Judgement)

Minako brushed her hair back and looked about the town. The dawn light crept over rooftops and doused the early morning commuters in an orange glow.

Up above her head, the sky obtained the first tinges of blue. Yet, all this beauty was spoiled by the hideous energy of another hollow. This large town had seen a great rise in hollow counts lately, perhaps something to do with a recent explosion. Some kind of explosive device had gone off, and many people were killed. The ghosts had been sent off with the help of another soul reaper assigned to the world of the living, but Minako was left to deal with the hollows. Likely the creatures were drawn to the stench of death that still lingered.

Minako leapt towards a small back alley wedged between a grocery store and house. The ghost of a teenage girl sat against the wall, a chain on her chest. Time to perform konso. Minako drew her zanpaku-to, and the girl recoiled. "Who the hell are you?"

Ignoring the girl, Minako murmured a couple of words and plunged her sword into the girl's chest. She vanished into the air, a spherical white orb.

If only hollows were that easy to kill. The hollow was definitely around here though.

Minako drew her sword as the hollow in question appeared. It was a hulking beast, gorilla-like in nature. It said nothing through its monkey-like mask. Then, it howled and dove for Minako.

She drew her sword and hacked at the shoulder. Her sword bit deep, but the other arm flashed forward and grabbed her waist. "Ugh-! Sekienton!(Red smoke escape!)" Red dust billowed out around her, and she leapt back with a curse. Her waist throbbed. "Punish, Hanketsu! (Judgement)"

Her sword glowed green, and twisted into an axe-like weapon. The blade widened into an axe head, and it flashed dangerously. It wasn't the most subtle, but it had its uses. She swung it, and the hollow leapt aside.

In order to use Hanketsu's ability, she had to cut him a total of three times. On the third cut, it would 'judge' the target. When one says judge, one means that the target is engulfed in flames, and if the target is not a soul reaper or human, the flames will consume them. Basically, it looks for a heart. Of course, this makes it no better than any other axe against other soul reapers, (*cough* aizen *cough*) but against hollows it's incredibly powerful. Unless they're fireproof.

The first two cuts were easy, but the hollow seemed to wise up and went on the defensive, dodging and weaving. _"Let me guess, third time's the charm?"_

How did it know her ability?

She dodged to the side as the hollow swiped. "Damn-!"

Her axe-like sword glowing again, she hopped into the air and hurtled down at the hollow. She slashed at the monster's head, hoping to end it with that blow, but the hollow turned up and punched her in the stomach. The force behind the punch was so great, Minako flew several yards into the air and hit the ground with a sickening crunch. "Well," she said, disgruntled. "That didn't work."

The hollow roared, and vile spiritual pressure flowed out to swamp Minako. However, while the creature was screaming, she stepped up and sliced it for the third time. The hollow's eyes widened. "Wha-?"

"It's curtain call for your disgusting performance of life," Minako murmured. The hollow turned towards her, ready to throw anything into a last-ditch attack, but it was stopped as iron bars rose out of the ground the form a cage around it. A moment later, flames consumed it and it turned to ash, and then vanished altogether.

Minako turned and vanished into the night.


	6. Chapter 6: Nagusame (Comfort)

The sweltering summer heat plastered Lin's hair to his forehead. Spiritual being or not, the heat today was quite something. The human world was ablaze with life, though, with people selling miniature fans and others hawking icy drinks. Not exactly legal, but nobody cared. It was too hot to care about anything. The dead heat of summer was stifling in Japan, as it was in many parts of Asia.

Lin felt a yawn building, and gave in to it. There was absolutely nothing to do these days. His sword, Nagusame, sat his belt. Nagusame (comfort) rarely got any use these days, since after Aizan's fall, there was literally nothing to do. Lin sat down on a convenience store's roof. The round sun shot yellow rays down onto him.

"If my sword could cut the sun…" he grumbled.

The store owner closed shop and strode out while Lin lay on the roof. He glared upwards, eyes narrowed. Boredom is an evil thing, worming its way into minds and eating away at your sanity the more you endure it. As Lin stared up into the cloudless sky, he sank away into a whirlwind of heat, boredom, and irritance.

**-To the Shop Owner-**

Samuel had been given an American name by his American father. American father, Japanese mother, which led to odd comments about his race. At thirty, he owned a convenience store and he enjoyed it. It was a simple life. Show up, check up on the employees, check the balances, and leave. Today, he was managing the shop, but the insane heat lead him to lock up and head out to buy shaved ice. Who doesn't love shaved ice?

He double-checked the store's lock and headed down the street. He thought vaguely that the air seemed to shimmer in front of him for a moment, but decided it was the heat. Heat did these sort of things. The air rippled again, and he rubbed his eyes. It was gone. He turned and began to walk away. It was fortunate he could not see what had been there.

**-Back to you, Lin-**

Lin bolted upright, forehead covered in sweat. Not just sweat from heat, but sweat from anticipation as well. He sensed a nasty, powerful spiritual pressure. He staggered to the edge of the roof and looked over the edge down at the shop owner, who was walking away. Just behind the man was a monstrously large hollow. It vaguely resembled a shambling zombie, its mask so grotesque. It's arms hung beside it, nearly touching the floor because of the creature's slouch.

If only humans could see hollows.

Lin grabbed Nagusame and leapt down at the hollow. Despite his blade's harmless sounding name, it had its uses in combat. Lin slashed at the hollow's shoulder, slicing it open and causing blood to spill everywhere. He felt a twinge of fear as he saw how calmly the hollow turned to him. What for lack of apparent intelligence, it had brute strength and resistance.

"Ow," the hollow said dully. Then it attacked Lin.

It was like trying to kill an elephant with a toothpick. The hollow was insanely strong, and incredibly tough. It bashed and hacked at him with its fists, and Lin could do little but dodge. It looked slow, but it was quite the contrary. The hollow roared in stupid anger and managed to punch Lin in the stomach. Lin liked to attack hollows without releasing, but he had little choice in this situation.

Lin had once been part of fourth company, until they realized exactly what his zanpaku-to did. Comfort, it was, but it also had another use.

"Erase, Nagusame."

What exactly is comfort? Is it making someone happy? The term is loose, and very vague. "This should be over quick, hollow," Lin hissed. He swung his sword, which glowed cobalt blue. It's surface rippled and seemed to move outwards, like the waves from dropping a stone into water. The blade's shape remained exactly the same, strange since most releases at least changed the size of the zanpaku-to.

The hollow, mad with hunger as all hollows are, struck Lin in the chest, throwing him backwards. Before he was thrown back, though, Lin managed to nick the hollow's wrist. No blood flowed out, it was that shallow, but blue waves of color began spreading from the miniature slit. The hollow's arm rapidly became shiny blue, and the color continued to spread. It danced around the hole in the hollow's chest, and did not spread to the head.

"By the time the color has covered all your body beneath your head, you'll be just an empty shell," Lin murmured. It wasn't a bankai, despite its apparent strength. It worked by slowly numbing and causing the target to forget his use of wherever the color went. However, anyone whose mind was strong could simply concentrate to break the shikai. For hollows, though, it was quite the ideal weapon. Nagusame didn't work is the wielder was at full strength. If the user's strength was at what the sword deemed to be two-thirds or less, it could be used. Otherwise, the blade was just a blade.

Now the hollow collapsed, eyes staring straight ahead. The blue color also slowly burned away at flesh, so within a few hours the hollow would be gone.

Lin stepped into the hot air and vanished in a small blur of black.


	7. Chapter 7: Ryoken & Kuroi Tsuki

Aito narrowed his eyes. He wasn't in japan, an odd thing, since most soul reapers and spiritual events occurred in Japan. Still, Taiwan wasn't horrid. Especially when you're stationed at the beach, staring into the stormy sea with nasty grey clouds above your head. A ship carrying oil drifted into a harbor somewhere down south. What was Aito doing here?

The soul society had detected spiritual action on Taiwan's eastern coast. Aito had spent the last two days searching for spiritual pressures, only picking up the occasional ghost or faint spiritual residue. There wasn't any action, that was for sure.

A seagull that happened to be particularly sensitive to spiritual forms landed near him, and pecked at his feet. Its beak slid through, and it looked confused for a moment. Sometimes animals sensed spiritual pressures, something many humans couldn't detect.

Aito sat down on a rock, and stared at the rolling waves. Many spiritual beings were once the souls of humans, but Aito had no memory of his human self. Staring into the waves, he felt a certain calm seep into his mind, and he began to think about random things, from humans to the female soul reapers in fourth division.

By all rights he had an easy assignment, if apparently pointless. He was ready to call it quits and leave, but somehow he felt a sick sense of unease. He was sure something was still happening, though he couldn't tell what. He felt something twitch at the edge of his consciousness, and he picked up his soul reaper badge. Some soul reaper badges could transmit voices.

"Found anything?" Myka, a friend of his, asked.

"Not really. It's pretty much barren here, with just a few wandering humans. I'm ready to leave, but I keep feeling as though I'm missing something."

Myka laughed. "You're not alone. The guys at the research and development are scratching their heads about this too. The pressure keeps fluctuating and bending their sensors. I'm actually on my way there right now. I'll see you in a few, hopefully with some new instructions." Her voice trailed off into silence and Aito stared at the badge blankly. So something _was_ up around here.

He spent the night in a scraggly tree, staring into the ocean. The tree in question sat on a rock cliff. Several small fishing structures sat nearby, abandoned and unused for years.

Myka arrived in the middle of the night. He sat upright and grinned at her. "What took you so long?"

"Contradictory orders from a million different people," Myka grumbled. "They warned me there might be a band of hollows, or even some kind of Gillian here."

"Some kind…?"

"Gillians are pretty damn hard not to notice, but a couple of gillians have been seen where they stand somewhere between adjucha and Gillian, in a compact form. It's not impossible."

"Great. Now I have to worry about midget gillians?"

"Hollows change, much as technology changes. Nothing remains the same forever, Aito," Myka said mildly. "You never know. Maybe there are miniature gillians scurrying around, hitting people with doom blasts."

"Look out for mice," Aito said darkly.

"Whatever. So, how's it going?"

"I've already told you. Nothing here, or so it seems. I sort of feel I missed something. Everytime I'm about to pack up and go, I do a double take and sense a pressure. By the time I zero in on it, it's gone!" Aito sighed. "Maybe I need to go get my mind checked."

"I don't think you can get your mind checked. Maybe the captains'll send you to the temporary insanity ward."

"Whatever." Aito pulled Myka up into the tree and sat by her, staring at the water. "Taiwan's a bit smoggy."

"Ever visited America? I got sent there to check on a ghost problem once. They've got this place, San Francisco, it's so choked with smoke I can barely breathe!"

"That bad?"

"Yeah. Ah well, I'd rather stay in Japan." Myka stretched, lithe and cat-like. "This shouldn't take too long. We just have to locate the source and found out what it is. It might be some ghost cult of dead people. Who cares? Let's get this over with."

"I'm the one who's been stuck here two days…." Aito mumbled. "Don't sound as though you're tired of this."

"Us females can do whatever we like," Myka said cheekily.

"Shut up."

The night passed and morning came, yet nothing of importance occurred. They searched inland, flitting amongst old stores and houses, searching for strong spiritual pressures, but finding none. "There has got to be something here, or I wasted three days now," Aito hissed.

"Wonderful. Oh, and by the way, I detected what's been giving you a headache the past couple of days."

"What? When? Where?"

"Just now, dummy, while you were staring straight ahead," Myka said. "There's a strong pressure by that warehouse." She pointed towards a large, box-like structure with Chinese characters painted on the side. "Actually, it's inside it."

"I don't sense anything," Aito said. It was true. There seemed to be absolutely no pressure coming from there."

"I swear it's there!" Myka said. "Just follow me!" She grabbed Aito's hands and dragged him towards the warehouse, alighting on the ground in front of the door. She yanked the door open and dragged Aito through.

"This isn't a good idea. Phantom spirit energy? Strange spiritual pressures?" Aito yanked his hand out and looked over her shoulder into the gloomy warehouse. An ancient light strip glowed up above, flickering and going completely dark at times. It must have been installed a few decades back, when those things were first created. "This place is ancient."

"Prehistoric, more like," Myka said. During a particularly effective flash of light, she slipped in and looked about. "It feels horribly strong here." She swiveled her head, until her attention stopped on a mountain of crates. "Right there…."

Aito stepped towards the crates, which were apparently once apple crates, and heaved them aside. Once he'd thrown some off, he saw a brown layer of…armor?

With a roar, a hollow burst out of the ground and wrapped tentacles around Aito. "Wh-What the hell?" He kicked at the appendage, doing absolutely nothing. From underneath the pile of crates rose a hideous monster. It had a humanoid torso, but that's as far as the resemblance to human went. There were arms, but each one was covered in brown scales. There were tentacles instead of a lower body. The face was masked, like any hollow's was, but tentacles came from behind the creature's head.

_"Oh? Playthings for me! Oh good! Lord Aizan's gone, but there's still toys for me, I see!"_ The hollow swung Aito close to its face. _"Will you scream, soul reaper? Will you cry? Struggle? Let's see, shall we?"_

The hollow bit at Aito, and Aito screwed up his eyes, paralyzed by fear.

"Bite, Ryoken."

A beam of red lite completely removed the flesh in the tentacle holding Aito.

The hollow screamed, an unearthly noise that caused the warehouse to shake. It lashed out with other tentacles to attak Myka, but each time a red light consumed the tentacle, reducing it to nothing.

Aito stepped back and shouted, "Toll of night! Kuroi Tsuki (Black Moon)!" His blade bent, turning jagged and rough. He hopped a few feet into the air and cut at the creature's torso. As his blade bit into the hollow's chest, he roared, "Bow before night!" Black waves of light spread from the sword's tip, each its own blade, and proceeded to hack and cut up the hollow from inside. Even as the zanpaku-to moved through its flesh, the hollow was torn apart by black rays of energy. Within moments, it lay in several pieces on the ground. By several, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of pieces.

"Your shikai is scary, you know," Myka said from somewhere behind Aito.

Aito grinned, and sheathed his sword. "Yours completely obliterates matter. THAT is scary."

"Only soft things. More solid objects can't be destroyed in one go."

"We should both be assistant captains at least."

"Yeah, sure," Myka giggled. "Try taking one of the captain class on. I say you last two and a half seconds."

"Ye of little faith."


	8. Chapter 8: Mukage

AN: Sorry about the sudden freeze on updating. I have a minor hand injury (too much typing). Also some viruses. (Virii?) I can manage a short story though. ^_^ Thanks again for the idea, Royal. Good to see you alive.

Fighting gets monotonous when you've heard of better action. Stabbing midget hollows gets more than boring when you hear reports of a rebel captain, a soul reaper/human saving the soul society, and monster espadas. Really, you're just poking stuff with your sword while people(?) save the world. Actually, it makes you feel pathetic.

All these thoughts drifted through Hayate's head as he stabbed a lizard-like hollow with his sword. Hayate was a patient person; he looked the part too. A sleepy expression, now twisted with boredom. His eyes, blank and roaming. His build, average and somehow insubstantial. An amiable smile sat on his face all the time. He looked as though he was one that could stand by, a silent specter, waiting infinitely. He couldn't now.

There had been a general decrease in hollows since the huge fight that supposedly occurred. Well, 'supposedly' wasn't quite right. It did happen. Hayate had even felt shock waves of energy near the end. All that happened while he stared at a dusty grey sky and stabbed things with his sword. He briefly wondered whether he ought to be more cautious, remembering a famous saying: Be careful what you wish for. He dismissed the thought. What was wrong with a little action?

He wouldn't regret the wish, although things could turn out to go out of hand.

As the day drew to an end, he was suddenly aware of a powerful spiritual presence. Recently, monstrous hollows had been reported by other soul reapers. After the battle, a few stronger hollows had snaked into the world of the living, deciding it was safer there. That was true, to some extent, since most soul reapers assigned to the world of the living were relatively weak. Some, such as *ahem* Hayate were a tad stronger, but there were few enough.

The human news was filled with stories of mysterious deaths and odd events surrounding a certain Karakura Town. But that's another story.

His eyes darted around. He stood in a rare plot of undeveloped land. Industry had eaten up most of Japan, as it had done to much of the other countries, but he stood in a small field. The grass was brown and dying, and most of the flowers were failing, being killed by polluted waste. Still, there were no structures to hide behind, although the spiritual pressure felt awfully close.

"Maybe something worth paying attention to at last," Hayate grumbled. He drew his sword and pressed his lips to its blade. This might seem odd to some, but they'd just have to deal with it. Or confront him about it, a decision you'd best avoid. "Get ready to dream, Mukage," he murmured through his lips. The blade shivered slightly, and began to glow dimly.

The pressure grew stronger and stronger. Hayate even felt himself tremble from the energy. It took him a moment to realize _he_ wasn't trembling. The ground was!

Acting on instinct that no doubt saved his life, Hayate leapt into the air, propelling himself up with energy. Even as he did this, the ground exploded open, dirt and rocks flying everywhere. Hayate stood a few feet above, staring at a gaping hole. "You know," he whispered to his zanpaku-to, "I've never seen a burrowing hollow. Maybe I should have."

The blade's light went out in response. "Ignoring me, eh?" Hayate said sourly. "Fine, have it your way."

From the yawning hole came a growl. "_Energy…."_

First came the howls. Then came the hollow.

Tearing out of the ground with impossible speed, a huge, hulking hollow clawed at Hayate. Hayate scrambled further up into the air, cursing. This hollow looked like an American creature. A certain green muscled creature. However, it was covered in a metallic hide, and hade huge claws on each hand. There was nothing remotely human about it. Then again, hollows lost most of their human traits upon creation.

Hayate grinned. "Looks like I'll have some fun tonight." Mukage began glowing again, this time a pulsating brightness. Hayate glanced athis sword. "Killed? You're such a pessimist. I'll be fine!" Mukage became a flat, toneless light, as if saying, 'Famous last words.'

They probably were.

The hollow was on the verge of diving back into the ground when Hayate plunged his sword into its leg. He'd been trying to sever the head, but it had moved a lot quicker than expected and thus missed. When he tugged Mukage out of the flesh, the zanpaku-to turned an angry purple. "Sorry, sorry," Hayate growled. "It's just a little blood."

_You don't have to be coated in it._

The hollow looked up at him and sneered. As much as anyone can sneer with a huge mask melded to their face. _"Talking to a_ sword?!" He lunged upwards. Despite his bulk, he moved rather quickly.

"Let's end this quickly. I wished for excitement but this guy looks-!" He was cut off, and then let out a squeak of pain. A chunk of his side had been clawed open. He looked down dully at his torn shusako. (AN: I forgot. Is that what they are called?) "Dang," he muttered, and blood spilled out of his mouth. He staggered back a step, clutching his side. "Didn't expect to actually get injured. Oh well. Sleep, Mu-DAMMIT LET ME FINISH TALKING!"

The hollow had gauged open his flesh(?) again. He clutched at his bleeding abdomen. "I could do without…without all this. Sleep, Mukage!"

Mukage began glowing faint blue. An eerie blue light swirled around it, and if you stared into it long enough, one became sleepy, and suddenly plagued by strange visions. There was no noticeable shape change, although a careful observer would notice the blade's edge wavering and twisting, as though seen through turbulent water. The hollow, who had been expecting an attack with the release, had fled a considerable distance.

Hayate winced as he hefted his zanpaku-to. "Damn, that stings." He watched as the hollow (Now confident when it saw no shikai attack) raced to slash at him again with those huge claws. "I'm getting tired of you." He held out the sword and stepped aside, nicking the hollow on the shoulder. "See you in a dream, probably not a romantic one. I never was a romantic."

From the hollow's vision, it'd be suddenly transported into another world. Not a hallucination, really. It genuinely had been sucked into a dream world. As of now it was simply standing on a cloud in the sky.

Hayate appeared, and grinned at the confused hollow. "My sword's bankai is probably something like this too. It seals us in my very own dream world, but it's not as advantageous as you'd think. Attacking any part of this area from the outside hurts me, but here I can beat you up at leisure as long as nobody interferes."

Realization dawned on the hollow's face. With this realization came the overwhelming desire to flee.

"Goodbye. Take over, Mukage."

His zanpaku-to's form twisted again, now taking a humanoid form. After a moment, the details cleared, showing a female soul reaper with shoulder-length brown hair. Hayate scowled. "Not that again."

Mukage spoke, her voice an echoing cacophony of tunes. "You don't like looking at your own crush?"

"Hurry up and kill the hollow," Hayate said flatly. "And she does _not_ have hair that short."

The hollow, dumbfounded, now started forward. Before it could take any steps though, it felt a peculiar burst of pain in it's neck. A moment later, it exploded into a colorful mix of reishi. Mukage had appeared in front of it and rammed her fist through its neck. She turned, a smirk on her face to Hayate.

Hayate scowled again. "Get back in sword form. I'm getting tired of this."


	9. Chapter 9: Betrayer

AN: Heya Royal! Thanks for the reviews so far. I've been slow, 'cause that was mostly a side-project thingy when I had time. I've got some time now, so I'll have at it.

Tatsumi wasn't the most popular guy in the soul society. After all, when your job was betrayal, people hardly wanted to associate with you.

Tatsumi spent most of his time (he was rarely assigned anywhere) sitting in front of the fourth company barracks. Aiko was a loud, violent girl with a dangerous beauty. She spent most of _her_ unassigned time yelling at Tatsumi and berating him for being so laid-back.

Tatsumi, though, liked talking to her, since she was the least judgmental person in the universe.

Usually.

"Oi, Tatsumi." Tatsumi looked up, and saw Aiko standing there. "You just got assigned. Clear out a hollow near Karakura."

"Isn't there a deputy soul reaper there, Kurosaki or something?" Tatsumi asked flatly. He was feeling particularly lazy today.

"Yeah, but he's not really a soul reaper. Just go." She handed him a sheet of paper with a sketch on it. A huge, waspish thing with a cracked mask. "It's one of Aizen's old experiments. It nearly killed Takashima. Have fun."

"Kill a hollow? Really? Why can't I have an important assignment, especially since there are mysterious quincies running around?"

Aiko's eyes flew wide. "How do you know that?"

"I eavesdrop."

"Natch. Just go, Tatsumi."

So Tatsumi went. Arguing with Aiko was on his list of not-so-viable things.

When he arrived, he wasn't sure what to expect. The research department told him to show up at a small, two-story home. What they didn't mention was that the home was no longer there. It had been leveled completely, with only a grey, scorched square to mark where it had been.

"Wow," Tatsumi murmured. "Well, that square is not a house. Guess I can go now. It's probably over now anyhow." He turned and made to leave, until four…no, six hands grabbed him simultaneously.

"Over, my dear soul reaper? _Oh, it's not over at all, now that you're here! HAHA!_"

It really was a wasp. It had six arms, with humans hands, but that was the only human feature. Everything else was a wasp in giant form, from the body, to the head, to its buggy eyes.

"SOMEONE GET ME A FLYSWATTER!" Tatstumi roared.

As the wasp-hollow looked down at him incredulously, he twisted away from the six hands.

Tatsumi raised his zanpaku-to and shouted, "Hado 32, Okasen!" A yellow light arced out from the tip and sliced into the hollow. The thing screeched, and beat its wings, rising into the sky with an anguished scream. Then it dove down at Tatsumi.

"Bakudo 21, Sekienton!" Red smoke flared all over, and Tatsumi twisted. Shun-po. Then he was standing on the hollow's back. "Ooh. Nice view."

_"You-! Die, DIE!"_

"Betray, Uragirimono," Tatsumi whispered. His sword flash green and blue. It's twisted and bent, seeming to fold in on itself, until it was rather like an oversized needle. He jabbed the hollow's back, burying the blade almost to its hilt. "Bankai. Burōkunhāto no uragiri (Broken Heart Betrayal)"

_"Bankai? You're not a captain-you've not even got the spiritual pressure for an assistant captain!" _the hollow rasped. And when nothing seemed to happen, it laughed again. "_See?!"_

"My bankai," Tatsumi murmured. "Is special. I learned it early, and it's rather…weak, in a sense. In return, it can be used repeatedly…until I've carved you into a bloody pulp."

The needle-sword was shrinking, blade widening. Soon, Tatsumi held a dagger in his hands. He smiled. "Uragiru…." Then he stabbed the hollow.

The wasp-hollow didn't do anything. Its wings continued to flap. The wound began to crack and splinter, until the foot-circumference around the gap was spider webbed with lines.

"Do me a favor and hold still…this won't hurt if you die quickly."

And so he stabbed again and again, until the hollow simply fell apart, and drifted away. Somewhere, in some other place, someone shivered.

AN: Yeah, there's a bankai. Deal wit it.


	10. Chapter 10: Papettomasutā (Puppetmaster)

Icy cold wind blew over Kazumi. She shivered, and drew the blanket tighter around her. Soul reaper or no, tonight was hardly a night to have a flimsy _shusako_ on.

Small flakes of snow landed on Kazumi's nose, and she sneezed. She thought ruefully of how the beautiful ice falling was the reason for her icy problem. Lately, Yuzawa's tourists and guests were being attacked by hollows. Yuzawa was a ski resort, and it didn't help that the dead hollow seems to have been one of the employees, killed by another guy in a drunken fight. The hollow waited in nooks and crannies, and then lashed out. Several people had gone missing of late.

So a stake-out was in order. A cold, torturous job that Kazumi would have given a foot…or maybe a hand…nah, how about one finger, to get out of.

A ski lift rattled by her, and she crouched by one of the support beams. The hollow looked pretty close to human, she'd been told. Its mask was supposed to look like a ski mask. Seems the hollow has six fingers on each hand, but it's not going to be easy to look for those when she's having her organs ripped out.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the job wasn't going to take long.

She'd been sitting there freezing her fingers off for about an hour when the hollow appeared. A lady in the resort's staff uniform was trudging out to check on some damaged ski lifts. The hollow slowly rose out of the snow behind her, in the near darkness.

Moving with blinding speed, Kazumi launched herself at the hollow, grabbing it and dragging it off to the side. The lady walked on. Kazumi did not.

The ensuing scuffle lasted about ten seconds, before the hollow managed to bite her on the arm. She screeched in pain and staggered backwards.

_"A soul reaper? Oh well. It will taste just as sweet!"_

She really wanted some hot chocolate right now. Better to end it early, and get some warm drinks.

"Command, Papettomasutā!" she growled. Her sword flared white, and then split into something that looked like three whips. "Seppuku Odori!" (Loosely translated, Suicide dance.)

The three glowing prongs latched onto the hollow, dragging it towards her. The hollow thrashed, trying to free itself.

_"Wait! WAIT!"_

"Triple prong finale," Kazumi muttered.

The hollow's arms went up and slammed into its own chest…and kept going. The hollow fell apart, sliding into many chunks of sour flesh.

Kazumi sheathed her sword and grimaced.

"Drunk people are such a pain."

AN: Short one, sorry.


	11. Chapter 11: 3 Soul Reapers

AN: Juu-nin, the sword's name, is derived from a Japanese saying: Juu-nin to-iro, which basically means, 'ten people, ten colors'. Everyone has their own tastes, likes, and dislikes. Juu-nin on its own means little, but I've embellished it for the fic. Gekko was iffy. I guess the term 'illuminate' can mean many things.

Takeshi swung his blade right-then right again, turning a full 360 degrees. The two severed hollow heads fell to the ground with a meaty _thunk!_

"Nice, Takeshi. That's seventeen hollows in the hour. I only got fourteen!" a cheery voice called to him.

Takeshi wiped sweat from his forehead and looked across the clearing at Ichiro. Ichiro, black-haired in comparison to Takeshi's dyed blue, stood in a circle of corpses. The hollow bodies were already beginning to fade and wither away. Then, Takeshi notice a large, metal gate that hovered in the air behind Ichiro. There were two mummified bodies chained on both sides.

"Oh," Takeshi said. "Turning another one in to Hell?"

"Yeah," Ichiro said, looking at the gate in distaste. "This thing freaks me out. Let's leave before they collect the souls.

Suddenly, both doors rapidly swung open. In the gateway was an infinite nothingness. Both quickly averted their eyes, for gazing too long into the black, white, and red abyss was said to burn your eyes out. Even if that was just superstition, if you hung around too long, you'd risk getting dragged in yourself.

One hollow had failed to disappear. It was a fat, burly thing, with a slimy, oily exterior that seemed to be made of rubber. The thing's mask had been torn off in the fight, and now it showed a ruddy, stubbled face that looked at the gates in absolute horror.

_"No! Wait! I didn't mean to do any of it! Please! The girl-I didn't-I never meant to kill-I-the two boys! I-my knife!" _He turned to the soul reapers pleadingly. _"Please help me! I never wanted to kill them!"_

The gates of Hell extended to bony arms, and slowly, very slowly, drew the screaming and sobbing hollow/man into Hell.

"Man, I hate seeing it," Ichiro said with a shudder. "I mean, evil or not, it's gotta be horrible…dragged in like that. Yeesh." The short soul reaper slid his sword into its sheath. "Funny how my zanpaku-tou, _Jigoku(Hell) _works. It does something like that, but seeing the actual gates…."

Takeshi shook his head in disbelief. "A sword called 'hell', one of the highest kill counts for hollows, but you're part of the bloody medical corps! Could there be anything else that shows you should be in say, sixth company?"

"Sixth company is full of stupid hotheads," Ichiro replied absently as he looked about the clearing. "Fourth company has cute quiet girls. Pick one."

"You're disgusting," Takeshi said with a sigh. "Let's head back for the next assignment."

Back through the portal they went, even as the gates to Hell eased shut and vanished into thin air.

"You idiots!"

Takeshi rolled his eyes as Juchiro berated them.

"Why didn't you come straight back? You know how much crap I'm going to get for this? What the hell made you think it'd be a good idea to romp around in fourth company's quarters?"

"I'm part of fourth company," Ichiro said mulishly.

"Yeah, and you dragged Takeshi along!" The tall, wiry soul reaper roared.

"You used to be fun. Then they put you in charge of us and now you just yell a lot," Takeshi whined.

Juchiro ran a hand through his mess of shiny silver hair. "You think I yell a lot? I swear my eardrums aren't the same. I deal with so much more crap these days."

Takeshi fingered Juu-nin's hilt absently while Juchiro rambled on about how sucky his life was.

Eventually, Takeshi and Ichiro got bored, and left Juchiro to mumble to himself.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" Ichiro asked.

Takeshi shrugged. "Want to go on another hollow hunt?"

"Why not?" Ichiro said. "Maybe somewhere around Tokyo."

"Yeah."

Eventually, the responded to a large-scale hollow call conveniently near Tokyo.

Now, the total number of hollows was forty-two. The two were informed a squad was being put together to deal with it, including a couple of second seats and an assistant captain. However, seeing as they wanted to kill stuff, it made perfect sense to go there first and get yourself surrounded by hollows, many of which had strength exceeding that of a standard hollow.

"This is your fault," the two said to each other simultaneously as the hulking hollows closed in.

Takeshi drew Juu-nin, while Ichiro drew Jigoku.

The head of the hollows was a giant spider-hollow. It had eight human arms, and maintained a bony human shape. Its mask gleamed with an unnatural light, though, and poison oozed from two fangs sticking out of his jaw. It was clear he was the leader, as all the others flocked around behind him.

_"Two soul reapers, stepping right into our missst? Kekekekekeke. Here I was hoping for a feast, but you'll do as an appetizer, yessss? Kehehehekeke." _ The hollow pointed one thin arm at you. _"But I'll save room for the main courssssse…you lot can have them! Kehehe!"_

"I'm no hollow's dinner!" Ichiro roared, and slashed at the air with his sword. A rippling wave of heart, so warm and fast it was virtually solid, slammed into spider hollow. It cleaved right through the monster's chest, killing it instantly. "Whose dinner now, spider boy?"

"We still are," Takeshi said grimly. "Hado 1, _Sho._" A couple of hollows were thrown backwards into the others, causing a small amount of confusion in the ranks.

"Takeshi! Down!" A voice shouted. "Hado 11! _Tsuzuri Raiden!_" A jet of electric light shot over where Takeshi's head had been a moment before, slicing right through three hollows before fading.

Juchiro leapt past Takeshi and sliced open a flying wasp-hollow. The creature spiraled away, now missing a wing.

"Juchiro!" Ichiro cried out, before being bowled over by a hollow built like a troll. He stabbed it in the face, and then clambered back to his feet. "Where's the main unit?"

"Still mobilizing," the soul reaper grunted. He stabbed another hollow. "I noticed you two were gone. Doesn't take a genius to guess where you've gone."

Ichiro sliced the air again, creating another rippling heat-scythe that chopped up a fish-hollow. The hollow had gills and a tail, and was quite a sight with four stubby arms. Well, one, now that the heat-scythe had gotten to them.

"On your right!" Juchiro snapped.

Takeshi turned and saw a humanoid hollow lunge at him, jaw gaping and teeth incredibly sharp. Takeshi was getting tired of this.

"Divide and conquer, Juu-nin."

Takeshi's zanpaku-to glowed blue momentarily, and then vanished altogether. Takeshi dusted his hands off and sat down on a fallen tree log.

Juchiro sighed. "Cheap tricks as usual?" As he said this, hollows all over the area began screeching as tiny, shallow slices were made into their skin. "That thing doesn't actually kill any, either. Just freaks them out."

"So? It's still better than Ichiro's. All brute force."

Ichiro laughed, and held up his sword. "Consume, Jigoku!"

Blinding red light filled the clearing, and the two soul reapers shut their eyes. When they opened it again a minute later, everything in a ten foot radius around them had been scorched to ashes, and Ichiro looked considerably more tired.

"See? I can control the area that's burned."

Juchiro patted out his hair, which had burst into flames. "Well, I needed a haircut anyway."

"Thirty hollows remaining, and that leader wasn't the strongest. Just the smartest," Takeshi said warily. "Look at that thing."

If you've ever heard of a minotaur, you can picture how the hollow looked. The hulking bull-hollow stood at least ten feet high. It gave a brutish snort.

"I think even a level 20 kido would be useless on that thing, based on its spiritual pressure," Juchiro said morosely. "The team should be here in ten minutes."

"We can hold out for ten," Ichiro said confidently. Then he saw another minotaur-hollow thing. "Maybe."

"_Sho!_" Takeshi snapped. A small, buggy hollow was thrown ten feet into the air and soared right into one of the hollow's faces.

"I never liked cows," Juchiro said as he stared at the hollows.

Takeshi raised a hand and tried to recall his days at the soul reaper academy. "Bakudo 4! _Hainawa!_"

A jet of yellow light wrapped around one of the cow-hollow's waist.

"Bakudo 73! _Tozansho!_" A prism of light surrounded the bound hollow, sealing it inside. Takeshi stumbled from the exertion it took to cast the kido.

"73? Impressive. I'd think only the kido corps could manage it."

Takeshi drew in a breath and eyed his prism. "Even if I manage it, it won't be as strong as a more experienced kido caster could create."

"_Sho!"_ Another hollow flew through the air, and Ichiro took a step back to regain his breath. "How many are there again?"

"About twenty eight are combat-worthy now," Juchiro grumbled. "Illuminate, Gekko!(Moonlight)"

Swirls of white light swirled around the blade, and it warped into the shape of a sickle. A bluish orb appeared in the curve of the blade, and then exploded. Much like Ichiro's shikai, it resulted in a blinding light. When their eyes were no longer seeing spots, a large number of the hollows stood staring straight ahead, not moving at all.

"Never saw your shikai before. What happened to them?" Takeshi observed the frozen hollows in awe.

"I illuminated their true nature as hollow, empty things. The have no heart, only hunger. My shikai enhanced their nature as being empty and 'hollow'. At the moment, their just empty shells. They'll stay that way until I sheath my sword or die."

"Don't die then," Takeshi said nervously as he eyed the hulking, frozen hollows.

"Nineteen hollows capable of combat remaining," Juchiro deadpanned.

Takeshi started as a tiny, midget hollow leapt at him. It looked just like a six year old girl, except for the ghastly mask covering her face. Dark hair trailed out behind her as she leapt at him, screeching.

"Bakudo 39, _Enkosen._"

The girl's hands imploded in a bright yellow light, and the bakudo further repelled her attack, consuming the hollow-girl entirely.

"Eighteen-Your bakudo failed, Takeshi!" Juchiro snapped. "Hado 11! _Tsuzuri Raiden! _Bakudo 1! _Sho!_"

The lightning bolt slammed into the freed cow-hollow, causing it to stagger back. Then, the weak bakudo shoved it into the hollow standing behind it-the other cow-hollow.

"Back to nineteen," Juchiro hissed angrily. "Reveal the nature of those..cow…things, Gekko!"

The white light flashed out again, and this time, rather than freezing, the affected bull-hollow began to shrink and go down on all fours. A moment later, a fat, stubby bull stood there, mooing. There was a bony mask on its face, and a hole in its chest.

"Juu-nin! Take the giant hollow!"

The invisible blades started to slice at the large hollow, while the smaller ones made a singular charge, eyes wild and jaws slavering.

"Ichiro, behind you!"

Ichiro suddenly stiffened as a massive claw sank into his back. Juchiro incinerated the hollow and hurried to the younger soul reaper. He glanced over the wound. "Not deep. Stay still. The squad should be here soon."

"Shikai: Stage Two. _Odoroki_(Surprise)," Takeshi said softly.

Every cut his invisible zanpaku-to had made suddenly became a deathly trap. Each little sliver began to rapidly grow, splitting skin as it lengthened and deepened. Blood spurted out from all the injured hollows, taking out nearly all of them within seconds. The remainder fled.

Unfortunately, Juchiro was watching all this when a particularly brave hollow hurled some kind of blade at him, which sunk deep into his chest before the hollow fled.

"Come back, Juu-nin."

The sword rematerialized in his hands, and Takeshi sheathed it once more.

When the squad arrived, they found forty incapacitated hollows and two unconscious soul reapers. One lone soul reaper turned to them and smiled mockingly.

"You're late."


End file.
